‘Titanic’ Plows Past ‘E.T.’ As No. 2 All-Time U.S. Earner

E.T., phone home: You’ve been bumped down to No. 3 on the all-time domestic box office list.

“Titanic” topped the North American box office for the 10th weekend in a row with $21 million, according to industry estimates Sunday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

That gives the film a total of $402.5 million, good enough to pass “E.T. The Extra Terrestrial” at $399.8 million and move into the No. 2 spot.

James Cameron’s epic, which has 14 Academy Award nominations, trails only “Star Wars” and its $461 million at North American theaters since it opened in 1977. That includes the gross from its rerelease in a refurbished version last year.

“At its present rate it, it should top ‘Star Wars’ before the Oscar awards (on March 23), and that would give it another boost,” said Robert Bucksbaum, publisher of Reel Source, a weekly industry newsletter.

Even “Titanic’s” soundtrack has had 8 million orders in February, a record.

Another phenomenon at the theaters is the resurgence of the “date crowd” movie, Bucksbaum said, meaning romantic, nonviolent films with wide audience appeal.

That category included “The Wedding Singer,” which was No. 2 with $12.7 million. The comedy is about the romance between a singer played by Adam Sandler and a waitress portrayed by Drew Barrymore.

“The material is just so delightful it’s striking people in different age groups in many ways,” said Steve Elzer, vice president of publicity for New Line Cinema. “Maybe it’s the 1985 time period it’s set in. It’s a great comedy, something people are embracing very quickly.”

“Sphere,” a futuristic underwater thriller starring Sharon Stone, Dustin Hoffman and Samuel L. Jackson, dropped 56 percent in its second week to place No. 3 with a gross of $7.3 million.